Let’s get this out of the way, I love language. I love the rhythm. I love the image that a just-right word can plant in your brain. I’ve lingered on sentences because the cadence was off. I’ve reread lines out loud just to hear how they land. I delight in the word ambidextrous because it gathers every vowel but “y” and manages to squeeze in an “x” for bonus points.

But when it comes to healthcare marketing? We need to choose clarity over cleverness every time.

Because we’re not trying to get our audience to admire the copy. We need them to get the point and take some action. To put it plainly, our intended audience needs to understand exactly what we’re saying.

Healthcare has its own language, and while there’s something elegant about the construction of the word hypertension, high blood pressure is more familiar. And why not trade the eight syllables of cardiovascular disease for three simpler ones — heart disease?

We need to unlearn some of what we were taught

School teaches us to write long, complex sentences. Standardized tests reward vocabulary many people rarely use in real life. Academic writing trains us to demonstrate expertise with language. And there’s a place for all that:

• Peer-reviewed journals, where precision and depth matter
• Dissertations, where part of the work is demonstrating what you know
• A good crossword puzzle on a weekend morning

But writing in healthcare marketing isn’t about showing we’re master wordsmiths. It’s about connecting with the audience to gain attention, understanding, and action.

Plain language helps people keep moving

It helps the parent in the pick-up line who’s skimming between texts. It helps the worker on a break who’s trying to reschedule an appointment. It helps all of us move through our days with just a little less friction.

Pick up a textbook. It’s not hard to tell who was writing to impress and who was writing to teach. The same goes for the emails we send, the websites we build, and the ads we launch. The clearer we are, the more people we reach.

And yes, sometimes strong writing does wander

That’s part of the joy of reading. The moment you curl up with an old favorite or fall into something new and unexpected. We need more of that, not less. It makes me sad how many people say they don’t read for pleasure anymore.

But when the job is to inform, to guide, or to prompt a decision, we have to respect people’s time and attention. Using plain language isn’t giving something up — and it’s not dumbing something down. Using simple, accessible words creates the fastest path to giving people what they need.

Five ways to simplify your writing:

1. Use shorter sentences. If your sentence has more than one comma, it might be two sentences.
2. Swap out big words for smaller ones. “Utilize” can usually be “use.” “Initiate” can be “start.”
3. Use active voice instead of passive voice. An easy tip for spotting passive voice is to insert “by zombies.” If it can be understood [by zombies], it’s probably passive.*
4. Avoid jargon and acronyms. Spell it out or define it, even if you think your audience should know what you mean.
5. Read it out loud. If you stumble, your reader will too.

Great resources that can help foster new habits

The CDC’s Plain Language Materials & Resources offers alternatives for commonly misunderstood terms. And PlainLanguage.gov, though written primarily for web developers, has plenty of useful tips for writers of all kinds.

Here’s a final challenge

If you’ve ever tried to write at a fifth grade reading level, you know it’s harder than you’d think. So, pick one piece you’ve written recently, turn on your favorite readability tool — Word has a built-in tool that generates your Flesch-Kincaid score — and take another pass. Make it just a little clearer. A little easier to read. A little more human.

That’s how we get better. One sentence at a time.

*I take no credit for the brilliance of this tip, but I have no idea who came up with it.

This article is part of Building Better Healthcare Marketing, our series of practical tips for performance marketers in healthcare. In it, we focus on strategies that move the needle in paid media, paid social, analytics, CRO, and campaign performance to help you connect with patients, strengthen engagement, and drive measurable growth.

Unlock Health is a full-service marketing communications agency that helps healthcare organizations make authentic connections with patients and communities.